Vol.XVI 



1S99 



DwiGHT, Sequence of Plumages. 2IQ 



taken every month in the year. The sequence of plumages is 

 beautifully shown, and it is time it should be more widely recog- 

 nized as a concrete fact. 



The Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) is in some respects 

 apparently unique among our Warblers. There is the first or 

 downy stage, and the second, which is the one figured on the 

 plate. The yellow spots represent the coming feathers of the 

 third stage, the autumnal or winter plumage. Unlike the Myrtle 

 Warbler, a complete molt, judging from the few specimens 

 available, takes place, including the wings and the tail. No 

 other Warbler of nearly forty species examined exhibits this 

 peculiarity, although it is common enough in other families. 

 This plumage assumed is practically indistinguishable from 

 that of the adult, the black of the lores and suborbital region 

 being as a rule less intense. It is worn without molt throughout 

 the following winter and summer. 



Consequently the fourth stage of plumage is simply the third 

 plus a certain amount of inconspicuous wear. 



The fifth stage follows the postnuptial molt, and the sixth is the 

 fifth modified by molt. All of these stages may not be traced 

 in all individuals, for the depth of the black of the lores is a 

 variable and slender character, but it will be observed that the 

 sequence of plumages obtains even when we cannot distinguish 

 with certainty one from another. 



The lesson to be learned from these two species is a valuable 

 one, and many other species teach the same thing, namely, that 

 plumages succeed each other in definite sequence, those of young 

 birds overlapping in their development. To number the different 

 stages consecutively has obvious disadvantages, and the terms now 

 in common use are inexact, so that some new scheme should be 

 devised to meet the exigencies of the case. As a solution of the 

 difficulty, I offer the following names which conform, so far as is 

 compatible with clearness, to every-day usage already sanctioned. 



1. Natal Down. This is a first stage, no matter whether the 

 covering of the young bird in the nest be downy or hairy, scanty 

 or abundant, evanescent or persistent. 



2. Juvenal Plumage. The name I propose as a substitute for 

 * first ' or ' nestling ' plumage is definite and suggestive of the 



